Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) 2018

I guess it's only the aluminum foil and not the neodymium magnets, structure, etc...it's only a part of the driver.
If you blow one of their tweeters, the replacement is also "cheap", but that's only for the aluminum foil, I guess it's the same for the headphone.
Here's an example, $74 for an aluminum foil replacement for the 140-15D tweeter, $50 or $74 for just an aluminum foil is not cheap...
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/voice-coils/raal-140-15d-replacement-ribbon/

 

R and D is expensive I guess.

 

The tweeter is $700 vs $70 for a replacement, a 10 to 1 ratio. This is 70 to 1.

 

@Ash1412 More like 35:1, but yeah pricing is a bit nuts, I'm with you on that one.
The only thing that calms me is that is from a company that knows wtf is doing, so the headphone probably will sound great if it's like their tweeters, so it doesn't bother me that much, unlike when, for example, Hifiman charges more than $2 for an unfinished piece of shit.

 

It's worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it.

 

The problem with releasing expensive first gen products is with the inevitable production issues that become glaring when considering cost. Even the Focal headphones had this, with the Utopia having some inconsistent batches and the Elear having a notch in the fr that gets fixed by the Clear along with a $500 price raise for probably the same production cost. Or the MrSpeakers and Hifiman headphones that keep getting revisions, rereleases, rebrands,... Or the breaking diagphrams of LCD-4abcdxyz...The problem is not with the price, its with how these companies think "good enough" justifies insane prices and then goes back to fix stuff post-production when they pop up. All companies do, but most don't r&d tax the crap out of buyers. But one can also blame first-gen adopters for that, so I'll step back and see how this goes...

 

Just posting some random pictures for your rmaf viewing enjoyment.

Comments to follow later.

These things were everywhere, and they all sound different. I honestly don't know what to tell you about these.


These are now my favorite planar, ever, period. I confirmed that I heard the final production tuning. They will come with 2 ear pads, 1 suede one cowhide. If you haven't had a chance to listen to these, you really should. I have a feeling you're either going to love them or hate them, but I freaking love them. I think he said customers can start ordering in early Nov? (Don't quote me on that.)


I was expecting ear piercing treble, but they didn't have that (like the original TH-900 did). They are, of course, bass cannons. Overall a very pleasant v-shaped sound signature. They're all so gorgeous to look at.


The guys! Love these guys.


Tyll, Dart, and Putt.


Dart is one of the coolest little pups you'll ever meet. We played a little tug of war with a stuffed squirrel, got plenty of back scratches, and he gave me doggo kisses as a thank you.

I got a tour of Putt. I envy Tyll. He did a great job building Putt. It's a freaking tank.

 

Wish it were possible to multi-like, on a account of the last two photos.

 

I really enjoyed the lunch! Great talking to everyone, as usual.

Also, I completely agree. The two best new headphones at the show were the Verite and Meze Empyrian.

I stopped by the Mr Speakers table. I heard the Massdrop Ether C, Ether Flow, and new Ether 2 from the Cavalli Liquid Glass amp. I would say the Massdrop C sounds pretty good. I thought the Flow sounds like I remeber it, and I liked the Flow more than the 2.0. 2.0 didn't really sound as full.

I was in the middle of talking to Dan about his headphones, and he suddenly disengaged to talk to someone about a Spongle concert he was going to attend in May. As in, mid-sentence. =\ His assistant then chided me on making a mess of the cables when I was plugging in the different headphones to compare them. Ok. This is fine. My opinion remains unchanged. Anyway... have a pic.

 

Oh! I heard the closed Focal headphone. It's closed alright. Had some pretty good fuckery in the mids too. Me no likey.

 

What is this "van and two" you speak of?


(I'm going tomorrow. =P)

 

I was next to you listening to the LP! Sounded great with the 6XXs.

 

Anyone hear the sony 8k dap?

 

no, kidding right, $8,000 digital audio player or no wait it plays 8k video , no what?

I heard their super battery powered gold plated volume control, dac/ amp whatever, it was nice, don't tell me the price.

 

That's the one!

 

it was ok. Nothing that would make you see god. Edit the fancy Sony HP was pretty nice.

 

Yes. They are good! As are the smaller ones. I compared to audio engine and the vanatoo encores are much more better than the A5.

Note, they were on stands, so I don’t know how much that affects the sound.

I still prefer separates over powered speakers, but if you have a use case for powered speakers, the vanatoos be good

 

I will disagree with some. I thought the Ether 2 was pretty damn good, and reasonably priced for what it is. The Meze comes with a three hundred dollar travel suitcase. Sorry, that should be an extra and the headphones have a lower price.